


young and doomed

by paaxanthus



Category: Half-Life, Hunt Down The Freeman (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Manipulation, They/Them Pronouns for Gordon Freeman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:09:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27380971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paaxanthus/pseuds/paaxanthus
Summary: The G-Man is a being of incomprehensible power. Even a god needs pawns. The vulnerable are easy prey.[Mainly Half-Life, you can still enjoy if you're not into HDTF.]
Relationships: Azian Vance/Eli Vance/Isaac Kleiner
Kudos: 6





	young and doomed

The twist of flesh and bone, the reformation of organs and sinew.

It was just a minor discomfort to him. And this was just a small step in his plans. What were a few decades to an ageless immortal? Trivial.

He could never quite get the eyes right, leaving his natural form. They were always too cold. Too distant in the most unsettling of ways. His pawns knew the feeling of being a deer in the headlights, of being prey. He was merciless. 

The feeling of a specimen in a lab.

—

Mitch was young when he first saw the man. Not his youngest pawn, but barely a teenager. The man made his observations with a cool distance between himself and the world. Even when the man wasn't looking at him, he could feel the petrifying gaze.

Always, when Mitch was at his most vulnerable, the man was there. Their mother's funeral. The night he finally ran away from home. Every night spent stumbling towards the shitty apartment he struggled to keep with sob stories and meager paychecks.

And then he was there, at the very lowest point. As Mitch lay in that hospital bed, hearing his own heart stop, the man loomed over him.

He offered him a deal.

He could give him the chance to stay true to what had been his last words. If not? Well, he could die there. He could die there, completely and utterly alone.

He had made the mistake of joining the military to turn his life around, and he would be damned if he let this be the end. Afraid to live, but so afraid to die…

And so he took the deal. Whatever he had to do to uphold his end, it couldn't be as bad as anything he had already endured. 

If he died now, who would avenge his squad? The closest he had to family since Adrian was taken away? They had been brutalized, same as him. They hadn't gotten this chance. 

—

Gordon had seen glances out of the corner of their eye. They had even seen the man face-to-face. Albeit through a layer of glass, but he was right there. 

With the day they'd been having, they weren't sure whether or not he was real. They weren't sure if any of this was real. The copious amounts of adrenaline and morphine were all that kept them going, fighting their way through the once-unassuming research facility. 

But the creature that spoke to them, fetal and massive with power beyond their comprehension, was dead. And the man stood in front of them, shook their hand, and offered them a deal they were incapable of refusing. A battle they had no chance of winning, rendering the fight for their life that had been the past day for naught.

They accepted. It was the only thing they could do.

The void was empty. Cold. They couldn't feel a thing.

—

She was so small. Defenseless, in the crumbling wreckage that had become of the dormitories. Only four years old, and already, Alyx was all alone.

She stayed there, huddled in a closet. Her mother had barricaded them into the dorm's bedroom, hidden her child away, but her wounds were fatal.

Mom wasn't moving. There were monsters. Surely Dad and Izzy would come for her, keep her safe. But it wasn't either familiar man who came for her.

She wasn't sure how he got in. The barricade stood strong. She was too afraid to care. 

Rescuing her, even for his own eventual gain, was the closest he had ever come to compassion. Eli was injured, Isaac was shaken, but Alyx sat waiting for them, unharmed. The lack of Azian's presence confirmed their fears. But Alyx was safe, they had escaped. They could let themselves mourn later.

—

In the end, they were all just his pawns. The two whose fates intertwined with Mitchell as well.

The extent of his care was whether they'd live to serve their purpose. 

Of course, he pulled the strings. He had his will, and it would be so. All he required were the pieces to carry it out. Resist as they might, they would do his bidding eventually.

What choice did they have?

**Author's Note:**

> eli has two hands
> 
> title: young and doomed - frank iero and the future violents


End file.
